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Aikibunny is a ubiqitous yet most elusive creature; apparently, he (she?) makes up the large majority of aikido practitioners, yet, when have you last seen one in the flesh, that is, in the fur?

According to many, Aikibunny is a Californian rodent. He smoked too much pot in the 70s, took aikido to Esalen and then downhill from there. (Yet I once got palmsmashed in the throat and koshi-ed into oblivion by one of those Esalen pioneers, no fluffy feeling there...) Aikibunnies seem to have congregated around that Dobson guy, too, yet it would be hard to say why, after all he broke fingers and was a little rough, they say.

According to some, Aikibunny is an obese, passive aggressive intellectual: male, middle- aged. OK, those exist, but then, what is so bunny about them, sounds more like aikiwalrus. According to others, Aikibunny is probably female, emotionally all over the place, the touchy-feely neurotic who screams abuse in the midle of technique. I have only met one in more than fifteen years. Was I lucky?

Where does Aikibunny really exist? Is (s)he only a phantasy?

Is Aikibunny the dance teacher with the flowery aikido who we vaguely suspect will get off with that attractive beginner after the seminar? Is Aikibunny quite sexy in a sort of forbidden way?

Maybe I am Aikibunny myself; after all, I meditate and I do burn incense sometimes; I have not been in a physical fight since the age of fourteen. How tough do I have to be not to be an Aikibunny? Is an occasional nosebleed in my training enough or do I have to be out on the streets arresting people who may carry weapons?

If you used to be tough, but not so much anymore, would that make you an aikibunny or are you immune?

Were there any Aikibunnies before, say, 1970?
Did Aikibunny study with O-Sensei? (After the war, of course...)
Does liking the second doshu make one an Aikibunny?
Are there Shihan-Bunnies? Yoshin-bunnies or Shodo-bunnies?

Does „real aiki" give a whole new dimension to aikibunny? The dark side of the fluff?

Aikibunny's aikido could be improved, that's for sure.
Are we all Aikibunny then?

Aikibunny could be Freudian rabbit.

Do you socialise with Aikibunnies on a regular basis? Do you have a bad conscience about it?

Aikibunny is a ubiqitous yet most elusive creature; apparently, he (she?) makes up the large majority of aikido practitioners, yet, when have you last seen one in the flesh, that is, in the fur?

According to many, Aikibunny is a Californian rodent. He smoked too much pot in the 70s, took aikido to Esalen and then downhill from there. (Yet I once got palmsmashed in the throat and koshi-ed into oblivion by one of those Esalen pioneers, no fluffy feeling there...) Aikibunnies seem to have congregated around that Dobson guy, too, yet it would be hard to say why, after all he broke fingers and was a little rough, they say.

According to some, Aikibunny is an obese, passive aggressive intellectual: male, middle- aged. OK, those exist, but then, what is so bunny about them, sounds more like aikiwalrus. According to others, Aikibunny is probably female, emotionally all over the place, the touchy-feely neurotic who screams abuse in the midle of technique. I have only met one in more than fifteen years. Was I lucky?

Where does Aikibunny really exist? Is (s)he only a phantasy?

Is Aikibunny the dance teacher with the flowery aikido who we vaguely suspect will get off with that attractive beginner after the seminar? Is Aikibunny quite sexy in a sort of forbidden way?

Maybe I am Aikibunny myself; after all, I meditate and I do burn incense sometimes; I have not been in a physical fight since the age of fourteen. How tough do I have to be not to be an Aikibunny? Is an occasional nosebleed in my training enough or do I have to be out on the streets arresting people who may carry weapons?

If you used to be tough, but not so much anymore, would that make you an aikibunny or are you immune?

Were there any Aikibunnies before, say, 1970?
Did Aikibunny study with O-Sensei? (After the war, of course...)
Does liking the second doshu make one an Aikibunny?
Are there Shihan-Bunnies? Yoshin-bunnies or Shodo-bunnies?

Does „real aiki" give a whole new dimension to aikibunny? The dark side of the fluff?

Aikibunny's aikido could be improved, that's for sure.
Are we all Aikibunny then?

Aikibunny could be Freudian rabbit.

Do you socialise with Aikibunnies on a regular basis? Do you have a bad conscience about it?

Inviting your stories about Aikibunny, real and imagined....

I think the truth is you'll find "wimps" ( Now there shall we coin a new phrase? Aikiwimps?) them in all areas of life..... just a shame they stay wimps and infest martial arts as a whole....
I have had many wimps come to me, some have changed from wimps to useful members of society, most have left and become the dysfunctional's you see in life, fat, barely useful and complaining about their situations entirely caused by their own negative attitude....
You tell me.... Maybe it's an American thing with all the flower power during the 60's SanFrancisco and all that stuff?.... We tend to follow suit here as it's usually the latest fads that come from the States

"Aikibunny" is obviously a stereotype. Like all stereotypes, it has its origin in truth, or at least partial truths, and like all stereotypes, it eventually outlives its usefulness. When we're trying to understand something complex (in this case, other people's approach to aikido), we generalize and simplify so we can start to wrap our minds around it. There's nothing wrong with these as initial steps towards understanding...but we have to be willing to take it beyond that, to fill in the details that are omitted or overlooked in our first simple picture. If we fail to do so, our generalization becomes a stereotype, with as much falsehood as truth in it, and our simple understanding becomes instead simplistic, omitting the inconvenient facts that don't fit our nice neat picture.

The most impressive martial artist I've ever met was a kyudo practicioner. He could stand in an open dojo in the freezing cold for hours on end while young strong men half his age scampered off indoors after an hour, their feet blocks of ice. This was fourteen years after he had an operation for cancer in which he had half his stomach removed.

Aikibunny is a ubiqitous yet most elusive creature; apparently, he (she?) makes up the large majority of aikido practitioners, yet, when have you last seen one in the flesh, that is, in the fur?

According to many, Aikibunny is a Californian rodent. He smoked too much pot in the 70s, took aikido to Esalen and then downhill from there. (Yet I once got palmsmashed in the throat and koshi-ed into oblivion by one of those Esalen pioneers, no fluffy feeling there...) Aikibunnies seem to have congregated around that Dobson guy, too, yet it would be hard to say why, after all he broke fingers and was a little rough, they say.

According to some, Aikibunny is an obese, passive aggressive intellectual: male, middle- aged. OK, those exist, but then, what is so bunny about them, sounds more like aikiwalrus. According to others, Aikibunny is probably female, emotionally all over the place, the touchy-feely neurotic who screams abuse in the midle of technique. I have only met one in more than fifteen years. Was I lucky?

Where does Aikibunny really exist? Is (s)he only a phantasy?

Is Aikibunny the dance teacher with the flowery aikido who we vaguely suspect will get off with that attractive beginner after the seminar? Is Aikibunny quite sexy in a sort of forbidden way?

Maybe I am Aikibunny myself; after all, I meditate and I do burn incense sometimes; I have not been in a physical fight since the age of fourteen. How tough do I have to be not to be an Aikibunny? Is an occasional nosebleed in my training enough or do I have to be out on the streets arresting people who may carry weapons?

If you used to be tough, but not so much anymore, would that make you an aikibunny or are you immune?

Were there any Aikibunnies before, say, 1970?
Did Aikibunny study with O-Sensei? (After the war, of course...)
Does liking the second doshu make one an Aikibunny?
Are there Shihan-Bunnies? Yoshin-bunnies or Shodo-bunnies?

Does „real aiki" give a whole new dimension to aikibunny? The dark side of the fluff?

Aikibunny's aikido could be improved, that's for sure.
Are we all Aikibunny then?

Aikibunny could be Freudian rabbit.

Do you socialise with Aikibunnies on a regular basis? Do you have a bad conscience about it?

Inviting your stories about Aikibunny, real and imagined....

An Aiki bunny is easy to spot: they thump the mat in alarm. You're cutting down to make ikkyo and just as your knee gets into ukes arm pit there's this "thump thump thump thump." And you look behind and your uke is hopping around like some mad hare-like ballerina with one leg alternating between waving around all over the place and thumping the mat.

I remember during a summer gasshuku in one year of many...... During a midday break for much needed sustenance, my wife came up to me from her kyu class as the Dan grades were doing something else.... she said, "That's it!! I'm never going to practise with another woman again" I naturally asked why, she replied, "ya can't put the techniques on this lot we've got here!!
How do you mean?, I asked.... she said "I just been told that I have to do an ukemi" (after someone tried to apply a kotegaeshi on her that didn't even tickle her) she just shrugged and flipped over for her.... Since that time she refused to work with women practitioners in fear she would probably damage them..... I cannot remember the last time she practised with a woman unless teaching a waza to a woman member of our club.... She didn't have to ask them to jump!!.....

Around here, if you go a few miles into the desert, the only rabbits are desert jacks. They aren't cute -- they're impressive. Lean, hard, and fast. I had a dog once who loved hunting rabbit. When we went skiing, she'd go hunting. She never got close to the desert jacks.

I used to love eating rabbit. Seems like the protein profile of rabbit meat is pretty much perfect for people. I can still remember the taste of the rabbit masala I cooked in the galley of a barge in S. France -- had to take the head out though....Eyes.

Then, back home, one winter morning I was driving to the dojo when I saw a small form lying near the curb. I pulled over and saw it was a rabbit that had been struck by a car. Not a jack -- the cottontails you find closer to the mountain.

Its skull was shattered, around the eye. It still was breathing.

I felt I couldn't just ignore it and then go be mindful and present -- just didn't make sense.

Nor did I much relish the thought of doing the right thing personally, with what I had at my disposal (bokken, tire iron, boot....)

So I took it to the emergency vet, figuring I might avoid the hard part of my decision.

Walked in, explained myself, and endured their curiosity. Was told, in passing, that I'd exposed myself to plague before being offered back my towel -- I declined. They took my burdens.

Around here, if you go a few miles into the desert, the only rabbits are desert jacks. They aren't cute -- they're impressive. Lean, hard, and fast. I had a dog once who loved hunting rabbit. When we went skiing, she'd go hunting. She never got close to the desert jacks.

I used to love eating rabbit. Seems like the protein profile of rabbit meat is pretty much perfect for people. I can still remember the taste of the rabbit masala I cooked in the galley of a barge in S. France -- had to take the head out though....Eyes.

Then, back home, one winter morning I was driving to the dojo when I saw a small form lying near the curb. I pulled over and saw it was a rabbit that had been struck by a car. Not a jack -- the cottontails you find closer to the mountain.

Its skull was shattered, around the eye. It still was breathing.

I felt I couldn't just ignore it and then go be mindful and present -- just didn't make sense.

Nor did I much relish the thought of doing the right thing personally, with what I had at my disposal (bokken, tire iron, boot....)

So I took it to the emergency vet, figuring I might avoid the hard part of my decision.

Walked in, explained myself, and endured their curiosity. Was told, in passing, that I'd exposed myself to plague before being offered back my towel -- I declined. They took my burdens.

"Aikibunny" is obviously a stereotype. Like all stereotypes, it has its origin in truth, or at least partial truths, and like all stereotypes, it eventually outlives its usefulness. When we're trying to understand something complex (in this case, other people's approach to aikido), we generalize and simplify so we can start to wrap our minds around it. There's nothing wrong with these as initial steps towards understanding...but we have to be willing to take it beyond that, to fill in the details that are omitted or overlooked in our first simple picture. If we fail to do so, our generalization becomes a stereotype, with as much falsehood as truth in it, and our simple understanding becomes instead simplistic, omitting the inconvenient facts that don't fit our nice neat picture.

What's a neat picture Mary? Didn't see anything neat in the last ding dong I was in..... Nature of the job and it's territory I'm afraid.....

Chicken on it's best day doesn't taste as good as rabbit...damn that bunny.

Chicken is easier to prepare in some ways (other than the feathers) Had done a bit of plucking as my Mothers, Mother & Father used to keep chickens and rabbits..... As kids brother and I would have to try and catch one, no easy job unless they where in a pen.... Nice to eat, but the small bones can be a bit of a pain....
The only thing that used to make me wretch was the gutting.... What a stink!!

Around here, if you go a few miles into the desert, the only rabbits are desert jacks. They aren't cute -- they're impressive. Lean, hard, and fast. I had a dog once who loved hunting rabbit. When we went skiing, she'd go hunting. She never got close to the desert jacks.

I used to love eating rabbit. Seems like the protein profile of rabbit meat is pretty much perfect for people. I can still remember the taste of the rabbit masala I cooked in the galley of a barge in S. France -- had to take the head out though....Eyes.

Then, back home, one winter morning I was driving to the dojo when I saw a small form lying near the curb. I pulled over and saw it was a rabbit that had been struck by a car. Not a jack -- the cottontails you find closer to the mountain.

Its skull was shattered, around the eye. It still was breathing.

I felt I couldn't just ignore it and then go be mindful and present -- just didn't make sense.

Nor did I much relish the thought of doing the right thing personally, with what I had at my disposal (bokken, tire iron, boot....)

So I took it to the emergency vet, figuring I might avoid the hard part of my decision.

Walked in, explained myself, and endured their curiosity. Was told, in passing, that I'd exposed myself to plague before being offered back my towel -- I declined. They took my burdens.

Haven't eaten rabbit since.

Anyway, the point being -- tough buggers, in nature.

The only thing with a spine that I've ever killed was a rabbit. I found it laying against a tree sorta shivering and struggling to breathe. I apologised, asked for its forgiveness, told it why and wished it a speedy and fortunate rebirth.

I've broken the necks of birds and field mice my neighbor's cat caught but couldn't or wouldn't finish. Made me very aware that, while I surely would also do it if I HAD to to eat-to-live, I"m glad I have the option of being mostly vegan....

Haha! I've been thinking about this for the last few days! All this talk about bunnies killing Aikido brought it straight to mind.

I liked a lot of the questions Nicholas asked, particularly the one about tough guys who might or might not be immune to aikibunnyism: we do all bring pre-existing experiences, some of which aren't exactly fluffy. Maybe the softies need more Shodothugism and the tough guys could do with a touch of the aikibunnyism.